Welcome and thank you for your interest in my website. I hope that you find inspiration about health equity and building a future where all in our society can enjoy quality lifestyles.

I grew up in the southeast Los Angeles in a family who believed in community service.  My father was a machinist who played on the company softball team.  My mother returned to the workplace when I was in high school, at a community hospital nursing office. She became a nurse in the local hospitals and case manager at Alta Med Health Services, Inc. caring for elderly Latinos in East Los Angeles.  She participated in local political campaigns and the Los Angeles based Hispanic Women’s Council. 

We hosted voting booths at our house every year in Pico Rivera, and Whittier, California. Growing up close to grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins, there was always a celebration to look forward to. As a child, I participated in civic organizations’ contests - winning the “Why am I an American?” essay, becoming a debutante, and runner-up to Miss Pico Rivera, and in middle school and high school competitions. For example, I was a recipient of a four year scholarship to Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, California at the Los Angeles Catholic schools math competition.

My journey at Stanford University and UCLA Public Health and Medical Schools facilitated learning about historical and current information on Latinos, Blacks, and Native Americans,-how poor nieghborhoods and  health care have marginalized them as patients, and the critical need for innovative policies and diverse health care professionals.  

I was passionate about organizing students and together with of core group of doctors, I founded the National Latin American Medical Student Network in 1987 and the National Hispanic Medical Association in 1994.

I followed my passion working in the California government,  the White House and the US Department of Health and Human Services on developing strategies to decrease minority health or to increase health equity.  I then jumped to the nonprofit sector and have served on boards for private sector health care industry. As a thought leader, I have focused on health reform, climate change, social determinants of health, access to culturally appropriate health care, diversity in the health care workforce, and leadership development.